Page 14 of Elijah's Hope
I was annoyed. He was fucking jealous. Had to be. Jealous because he didn’t know what he was getting with his pick and he knew what I already got. An amazing woman. Hands down. Easy to call me the asshole for having the idea in the first place. Easy to say it was all bullshit, when they could already see it wasn’t.
A date. With a woman. Where we talked. We learned things about each other. Where all I did was kiss her on the cheek and I was still the most fucking satisfied man on this campus tonight no matter how many had already jacked off into their fists.
Jackson sighed. “You like her.” It wasn’t a question.
“So what?” I waved my hand in the air. “This is temporary. A fantasy. A fucking week of Bachelorette Comes to Alaska and then it’s all gone. Yeah, I like her. But her return ticket is dated two weeks from now and then she’s gone. Tell me what I have to worry about.”
“You don’t think it might turn into something more?” he asked, laying his book on his chest.
I laughed then. Really laughed. Not the kind that Shelby elicited just by being cute.
“Hello! What’s more? Life in Hope’s Point? A house like Zeke built for Eve and the kid? Shelby, from middle-class suburbia, hot year-round Louisiana, is going to live here where the sun isn’t going to set for another two hours and it’s still cold? When during winter it’s dark as fuck all the time and there is nothing but snow that you think will never stop?”
Jackson looked at me gravely. “That’s not an answer.”
“I had a nice night!” I shouted. Not really sure why I was shouting or how he’d gotten to me so quickly. “I like her. It’s nothing. This is a blip. We all paid for a blip. You did, too, I might remind you. Why didn’t you say anything when she asked about who you had coming?”
His expression changed. “There’s nothing to say.”
I snorted. “Yeah, I get it. Big, bad Jackson. Too cool for being excited over something as simple as a woman. Yes, I like Shelby. I know I’m going to have fun with her tomorrow. Sue me. That’s what this was all about. Harmless. Fun. A shame you can’t wrap your mind around reality.”
This time Jackson grunted. “Angel, wish I could believe that was true about you, too. You think you got your nickname because of your real name? That wasn’t the only reason.”
“I’m no angel,” I growled.
“No. You aren’t” he agreed. “You just want to be.”
“Fuck you, Daniels,” I said, flipping him the bird. I walked to my room and slammed the door behind me because it felt good. I was nobody’s angel. Never had been. Never would be.
I gave Shelby the broad strokes of my background, but I didn’t tell her the truth.
And truth was I was never, ever going to be good enough to deserve her.
* * *
The next morning
Eli
I pulled up to Shelby’s cabin in my truck and parked. I thought about what Jackson said last night and I wanted to hit something. Mostly Jackson, for making this something it wasn’t and ruining what should have been a fun time. An easy time. No strings attached, no overthinking anything.
Now, I was thinking about everything. Like how, if I was gentleman, I would turn off the engine, get out of the car, walk up to her door and knock. Because that’s what a woman like Shelby deserved.
That’s what a nice guy would do. A decent guy.
Hadn’t I been up until three in the morning last night coming to grips with the fact that I wasn’t a nice guy?
So I did what a thoughtless jerk would do and I hit the horn letting her know I was out here.
“Fuck!” I shouted to no one in particular. Hell of a date this was going to be if I was a surly ass for most of it. I turned off the engine and did what I should have done in the first place. I got my ass out of the truck, but it was already too late. Shelby was bouncing out of the cabin running to me like it had been years since she’d seen me instead of just last night.
“Oh my Christmas! You are not going to believe what I saw! It was a bald eagle. I’m sure it was. Or some kind of very large bird.”
She stopped when she got in front of me. She was panting, and her chest was bouncing up and down.
Yeah, now I was thinking about her big, round tits again and not her sweet accent and her big, wide smile. That was probably safer.
“I walked around the cabin just to dip my toe into these wild woods and I heard a squawk and it wassooooloud. Nothing like I’ve ever heard back home. It had to be bald eagle. Don’t you think?”
